


veritaserum roulette

by allforus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Birthday, Confessions, F/F, Gay Remus Lupin, Gay Sirius Black, Lesbian Marlene McKinnon, Love Confessions, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Mutual Pining, No Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sexual Humor, Truth Serum, Veritaserum, mention of jily kind of, very minor mentioning of marlene and dorcas but I love them so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allforus/pseuds/allforus
Summary: it's remus lupin's 16th birthday and his friends have the brilliant idea of playing veritaserum roulette. will remus reveal the truth about him being a werewolf, or worse, his secret crush on sirius?ORremus lupin is dumb and gay but we love him for it.
Relationships: Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 123





	veritaserum roulette

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i hope you all enjoy this fic! it's my first time writing the marauders and i hope i did these lovely characters justice!
> 
> i appreciate kudos and comment so much! any suggestions or constructive criticism is also welcome!
> 
> hope you're all having a lovely day <3

Remus had no idea why he had agreed to this. The eight of them sat in a circle in front of the fire in Gryffindor common room, ignoring the stares from first and second years who were not quite used to the Marauder’s odd behavior. It was Remus’ sixteenth birthday, and they had insisted on playing whatever silly game Mary had come up with during Potions. The girls had refused to tell them what it was, but promised it would be a fun way to celebrate their good friend's birthday. Remus agreed, only because it ensured that no last minute surprise party would take place, which he knew James and Sirius had been planning to do. 

“Alright, do you guys know what  veritaserum is?” Mary said, looking at the four Marauders around her. Remus’ heart stopped beating for half a second. Truth serum was highly controlled by the ministry, and he had no clue how she had gotten a hold of it. Mary brought out a small vile from her pocket, handing it to Dorcas. 

“How did you get that?” Peter asked, eyes wide with fear. “Slughorn had some for a lesson with the 7th years, snagged a bottle of it off his desk when he was helping Sirius with that potion earlier,” she explained calmly, like it was perfectly normal to steal highly controlled substances from teachers and use them for a bit of fun.

“What exactly do you plan on using it for?” Remus spoke up, hearing the panic in his voice. He knew if they planned on giving it to him, he’d somehow tell them about his lycanthropy. Only the Marauders and Lily knew, and he didn’t need Mary, Dorcas, and Marlene to all know his deepest secret. Mary didn’t seem to notice his worried tone, “Well, we’re going to put it in one of our drinks, and then ask questions to figure out who’s taken it!”

Remus was officially panicking now. He looked between his friends, trying to see if they were as worried as he was. Peter seemed a bit nervous, but James and Sirius were grinning widely. “That’s bound to be a good laugh, I’m in,” James said, winking at Lily. She rolled her eyes at him but agreed that it might be funny. Before he could protest, Mary and Dorcas ran off to kitchens to get them all cups of tea. 

“Is anyone else a bit, uh, nervous about this?” He asked, pointedly looking at James. James didn’t seem to understand what he meant, and shook his head grinning, “Come on Moony, it’ll be fun!”

When the girls returned, a tray of eight mugs carried between them, everyone else had seemed to relax. Remus felt odd, anxiously tapping his finger on his thigh, but he knew he couldn’t get out of this now. Mary passed around the mugs, explaining that they had poured the potion into one of the mugs already, but didn’t know which. Remus tentatively took a sip of his tea when they all began to drink, but downed it after realizing his tasted completely normal. If his drink had the potion in it, it would taste a bit off,  _ right? _

“Alright, ground rules, no asking questions about people’s health or personal things like that, alright?” Mary said, all of them nodding in agreement. “Who wants to ask first?”

“Let’s start easy, what’s the most embarrassing thing in your room?” James asked, smiling at Peter, who turned white when he asked the question. James and Sirius had found muggle pornography a few weeks ago when digging through his things looking for his herbology notes. Remus smirked, excited to see if Peter was the one who had taken the potion.

“Probably my underwear,” Peter said, sounding revelived. Damnit, not Peter.

“Hmmm, I have a lot of muggle romance novels,” Dorcas said, smiling.

“Nothing is embarrassing to me,” James said, everyone rolling their eyes. They all knew he’d show them anything they wanted to, nothing phased him.

“I have a lot of quidditch magazines,” Marlene said quietly.

“I guess my underwear as well,” Mary said, nodding in Peter’s direction. She was obviously aware that she hadn’t taken the potion

“My records, I guess,” Sirius said, smirking. Remus knew that his massive collection of Bowie albums was not the most embarrassing thing he owned, not even the most embarrassing thing he had on display in their dormitory, so it was not Sirius either.

None of them had said anything obviously embarrassing, and Remus smiled, realizing that it must have been Lily who had taken the potion. He knew plenty of her secrets, and was excited to see if James would finally find out that his self proclaimed love for her was reciprocated.

Remus was next in the circle, and before he could even think of a funny lie, he found himself saying, “Oh definitely the playgirl magazine under my mattress, or the teddy bear my mother insists on packing in my trunk.”

_ Shit. Fucking shit. _

Everyone around him stared, realizing at the same time at him that he had taken the veritaserum. Remus clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing that he had just admitted to having a women’s magazine filled with scandalous pictures of men.

“Damn Moony, didn’t realize you were that ashamed of that teddy,” Sirius said, a shit eating grin on his face. Thankful that his friend hadn’t mentioned the magazine, which they were all clearly thinking about, Remus took his hand away from his mouth.

“Right, well, I guess I don’t have to make something up then,” Lily said after a minute, ending the awkward silence. “Now that we know it’s Remus, should we keep asking questions?”

“Oh, let's ask him who he fancies! I bet it’s that hufflepuff girl he’s been tutoring, what’s her name, Jane?” Marlene said, turning her head to smile at him.

“I fancy Sirius, obviously.”

Remus didn’t even realize what he had said at first, looking around at his friend’s shocked expressions. When he realized that he had just admitted to his three year long crush on his best friend, his mouth dropped open in shock. Before anyone could say anything, he scrambled back, knocking into a chair before running out of the common room. It wasn’t very late, but he knew if a prefect found him out without a valid reason, they’d question him. He ran down the hall, eventually finding an abandoned classroom, closing himself in.

_ Why had he agreed to play that stupid game? It was his birthday, obviously Mary and Dorcas would give him the truth serum. Why had he been so stupid?  _

He paced around the classroom, unsure of what to do for what seemed like hours. None of his friends had run after him, thank god. He was glad he hadn’t revealed the truth about his monthly hospital wing visits and why he missed so much class, them knowing about his lycanthropy would’ve meant the end of his time at Hogwarts, but them knowing that he fancied blokes, and that he fancied Sirius of all people? Disastrous.

He knew Sirius was too kind to call him names or kick his ass, but he knew things would be awkward between them, between all of the Marauders, because of his confession.

Remus found himself sitting on one of the desks, head in his hands. He was so consumed by these thoughts, he didn’t notice the classroom door opening and a figure walking towards him until they placed their hand on his shoulder. He jumped at the sudden contact, and found himself staring into Sirius' grey eyes.

“Hey Moons, can we talk?” He said, smiling softly at the brown haired boy.

“Don’t have much choice, do I?” Remus quipped back, the potion not allowing him to hide his obvious anger about the situation. He shook his friend’s hand off of his shoulder, looking down in shame. 

“Oh right, the potion’s still affecting you,” Sirius said laughing, moving to sit next to the other boy. “Here, if I promise to be 100% honest with you as well, can we talk?”

Remus nodded, trying his hardest not to verbally reply. He knew if he didn’t force his mouth shut, he’d tell Sirius that it wasn’t just a small crush he had on the other boy, but that he genuinely loved him.

“Alright, well I suppose I should tell you that I fancy you too,” Sirius said softly, placing his hand on the werewolf’s knee. Remus jumped at the touch.

“No you don’t, you’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Remus found himself saying, “If you fancied me you wouldn’t have shagged all of those girls at the beginning of the year.”

Sirius chuckled, shaking his head, “Actually, I shagged those girls because I was trying to ignore the fact that I really fancied blokes, but now I’ve realized that I can’t pretend to like birds, it isn’t fair to them.”

Remus, still trying to force his mouth shut, responded, “Well, just because you like blokes doesn’t mean you fancy me, I would’ve known if you fancied me, I’m not as oblivious as you and James think I am.” Sirius just shook his head, “James doesn’t even know I’m queer, let alone that I fancy our best friend.”

“But why?” Remus found himself asking, “I’m not as pretty as James or as kind as Frank, why do you fancy me of all people?”

“Moony, have you ever seen yourself? You’re absolutely gorgeous, but you’re also clever and funny and just perfect. I can’t imagine falling for anyone but you.”

Remus expected to find himself responding, but for the first time since taking the potion, he seemed to be completely in control of his voice. “I think the potion is wearing off,” he said quietly, shaking his head slightly, “but are you serious, do you really fancy me?”

He knew he had made a mistake when he saw Sirius grin, “I’m always Sirius.” Remus groaned and brought his hands to his face. “But yeah, I really do fancy you Remus.”

Remus dropped his hands from his face and looked up at Sirius, seeing the sincerity that he had heard in his friends words. He couldn’t help the shy smile growing on his face as he looked back down to the stone floor. “I really fancy you too, Sirius.”

The hand on Remus’ knee moved, but before Remus could react, he found it on his cheek, pulling his eyes to his friend’s face. Sirius was grinning so wide, Remus thought it must hurt, but before he could think much else, he was being pulled into a kiss.

Admittedly, Remus had never kissed anyone before, so he sat there in shock for the first few seconds. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, but he felt himself melt into Sirius' lips, and his hand moved to the other boy’s shoulder. When Sirius pulled away, he found himself leaning forward, chasing the other boy’s mouth. Sirius smirked, eyes looking Remus up and down.

“Why didn’t you tell me you fancied me sooner? We could’ve been doing that for ages!” He said, moving his hand down to intertwine with Remus’ boney fingers. Remus just rolled his eyes, “I thought you fancied Marlene, so I really think it’s your fault Pads.”

“Marlene and Dorcas are definitely going out, so I don’t think that would’ve even been a possibility,” Sirius said with a smirk.

“What?!” Remus said, a look of horror in his eyes.  _ Not only was Sirius queer, but Marlene and Dorcas too? _

“Yeah, I thought everyone knew that, what with their hand holding and such,” Sirius said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I just thought that was something girls did, you know? Does anyone else know?”

“I dunno, probably Lily, she seems to know everything.”

Remus just shook his head, then remembered that he was holding hands with Sirius, and Sirius had just snogged him.“So, what does this mean for us?” He asked, raising their hands slightly to make his point.

“Well Moony, I could spend weeks wooing you and taking you on dates, or you could just agree to be my boyfriend now,” Sirius said, biting his bottom lip as he smiled. Remus rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. “Well Padfoot, while I do think you should still take me on those dates, there’s no need to woo me, job’s already been done.”

“You’ll be my boyfriend then?” Sirius asked, rubbing his thumb against the back of the other boy’s hand. Remus just smiled and kissed Sirius' cheek. “Of course I’ll be your boyfriend you bloody idiot.”

  
  
  


The two made it back to the common room before curfew, but their friends couldn’t help but notice the way the two smiled at each other as they walked upstairs to their dormitory, their fingers intertwining when they thought they were out of sight. James passed Mary a few galleons as they watched, “Thanks for giving that to Remus, couldn’t watch the dunces pine for much longer, it’s been bloody exhausting.”

As Remus fell asleep that night, he couldn’t help but bring his fingers to his lips, missing the feeling of Sirius on them. He’d had to thank Mary for his stupid little game. It had been his best birthday yet. 


End file.
